Driving in (or through) London after October 2021

[Chuffer]

For those that have been to Japan and used the bullet train it's night & day between them and us. Sparklingly clean trains with acres of room, perfectly smooth tracks and when you pull into the station zero litter and all the little rocks either side of the tracks looking like each was placed by hand. Roll into Euston and the last few miles the tracks are littered with soiled nappies, litter, parts of cycles and god knows what else. Disgusting One of our NW members works the railways and he was telling me that some older trains still in use still purge the contents of the toilet holding tanks so when they are working track side they have to pray the driver sees them before dumping 'the load'

Just about every European country puts our railways to shame . And to think the UK brought railway travel to the whole world . Older coach stock like those found on Heritage Railways all discharge onto the track , hence the " Do Not Flush In Stations" signs in the loo . It is the Firemans job to ` go in between` to couple up when the loco backs onto the train . Many a time I have had dodge the dung and bog paper until I made it to Driver , then it was someone else`s turn . Even more modern carriages right up to BR Mark 4`s are the same and are still in service . As are some relatively modern Electric Multiple Units ( EMU`s ) . The Class 317 EMU`s that were on the Bedford to St. Pancras and Brighton trains are like that , and that line was appropriately nick named the Bed Pan Line for short ! I had a mate who was a driver on that line . So next time you board a train and the doors , door handles and windows are tinged brown , it`s not all brake dust ! You have been warned .

 

[Chuffer]

Disgusting to think that is still done in this day and age.

Sitting on the train pulling into Liverpool Street is an eye opener if you’ve never seen it before. Tracks full of all sorts of rubbish. Looks bloody terrible.

I totally agree but it is the same at every main line station . The only bits not covered in rubbish and graffiti are overgrown with weeds , and Buddleia bushes the size of oak trees ! During my years spent working on main line steam hauled charter trains , the very worst had to be the Fenchurch Street - Tilbury - Southend line where we spent a bank Holiday weekend doing regular trips up and down that route . The amount of stuff dumped down the cuttings onto the lineside was appalling . Bikes , prams , garden rubbish , household waste , car wheels and tyres to list just a few . You hardly dared to stick your head out the loco cab side window for fear of what might come flying down next ! It was like `Bomb Alley `